Julia and I made the effort to be at Welney for 'dawn' and walked along the public bridleway on the bank to view the swans all leaving their roost on Lady Fen and heading off to the fields to feed. Very dull light so little detail in the images but do give an idea of the spectacle and the typical Fenland scenery - just add the noise of hundreds of Whoopers calling as they head off in their family groups. Big flocks of Lapwing also becoming active.
The rain stayed away and we even had a few brighter intervals for our Paxton Pits Volunteers visit to Welney WWT yesterday. Amazing numbers of Lapwing, several flocks of Black-tailed Godwits and all the usual ducks including good numbers of Pintail. Swans were limited to a few resident Whoopers and maybe a few distant Bewicks. The first image is going to rate as one of my all-time favourites - a Cattle Egret flying past one of the sheep walking along the bank.
I made a third visit to Frampton on the last day of our Lincolnshire holiday and concentrated in the morning on the birdlife, especially the Sedge Warblers and Reed Bunting in the reeds, the Spoonbills feeding, Sand Martins at their artificial bank, a visiting Red-crested Pochard, Lapwings and Little Ringed Plover.
